Fever
by greypolkadots
Summary: Alex and Arizona one-shot. Set in the Sweet Sixteen 'verse. When Alex and Arizona's daughter gets sick, the whole family gets sick. February 2016.


A/N: Another one-shot in the Sweet Sixteen 'verse. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.

**...**

The soft sounds of Michael Buble filled the operating room as the doctors and nurses worked hard on the tiny body on the table. Alex had lost the game of paper, rock, scissors that decided whose ipod they would listen to during the four hour surgery. He preferred more rock and less elevator music while Arizona preferred a more calming environment while she worked. They had already been in the OR for over three hours as they worked to fix baby Anthony's esophagus. Normally, Arizona would have had a resident and intern assist her on the case but the scans taken immediately after birth showed that this wouldn't be a typical esophageal atresia repair and she wanted more experienced hands in there with her.

She was glad she had him when they opened Anthony up and saw that the newborn baby also had a malformation with his small intestine. Alex was able to work on the intestine while she focused on joining the two parts of the baby's esophagus.

When Michael Buble's signature song started to come through the OR speakers Alex had finally had enough.

"Robbins, don't you have something a little less cheesy on your ipod? Less _muzak _and more _music_?" Alex huffed as he glared at Arizona across the table.

Arizona didn't look up from her work, "I do. But you lost and this is what I want to listen to today. Don't be a sore loser, Karev."

"Fine," Alex growled. "But next surgery we do together - it's my ipod which means it's going to be Metallica and Rob Zombie."

"Oh Alex," Arizona chuckled as she continued to work. "I think you forget that I'm the boss."

Alex continued to growl under his breath as he turned his attention back to the baby on the table.

Arizona sighed loudly as she took pity on her friend. "Sam," Arizona called out to the nurse across the room. "Could you grab my ipod and change it to the workout playlist, please." Arizona glanced up at Alex, "It's not Metallica but it's better than, what did you call it? _Muzak_?"

When the playlist shuffled and the first beats of Rihanna came through the speakers, Alex almost wished that he never said anything at all but then Eminem came on and that was definitely better than Michael Buble. "Thank you," he said quietly as he made eye contact with Arizona.

Arizona hummed her acknowledgement of Alex's thanks and continued to work on the baby. Alex had finished up what he needed to do on the intestine and had switched to assisting Arizona. He was very adept at knowing what she needed before she even needed it. Over the last six months since their daughter was born, Alex and Arizona had become closer than ever and were able to tag team issues both at work and at home with very little verbal communication together. As a result of spending almost all of their time together, they instinctively knew how the other worked and what the other needed. In Arizona's mind, this skill had come in very handy at work since she needed to rely on Alex more than ever so that they could spend less time working late and more time at home with their baby.

"So what are you doing tomorrow for Valentine's Day? You taking that girl out again?" Arizona asked casually as she worked on stitching the esophagus together.

Alex shrugged. "We've only been out like twice. Why does that mean I have to do something for Valentine's Day?"

"Because it's nice?" Arizona asked sarcastically. In truth, she was actually jealous of Alex. While he didn't have a stellar dating life, at least he had one. Women were much more apt to date a single father than a single mother and Arizona had found re-entering the dating world to be tougher than she expected.

"We have dinner plans. Do I have to get her a gift or something?"

"Just get her flowers. That won't make her think you want to marry her or something," Arizona suggested knowing that Alex was currently in an anti-relationship phase; he was looking more for physical companionship than emotional.

The rest of the staff in the operating room listened in on the surgeons' conversation. The pair was always providing the hospital with fresh gossip as their relationship continued to evolve as friends, co-workers and parents. Arizona and Alex continued their banter as they worked to give the baby a functioning esophagus. Arizona was almost finished stitching the esophagus together when a pager buzzed from across the room. Pagers going off while in surgery wasn't unusual. Everyone in the room wore a pager and they didn't stop being paged just because they were in a surgery. Normally, Arizona ignored pages while in surgery. She needed to be focused on what was going on on the operating table not with what was going on outside the OR. Only a few seconds after the pager stopped buzzing, another went started and Arizona couldn't ignore the annoying noise any longer.

"Sam?" Arizona asked. "What's going on?"

The scrub nurse moved to the tray that was currently holding the surgeons' pagers. "It's both yours and Dr. Karev's, Dr. Robbins."

At hearing his name, Alex glanced up and turned his head to look at the nurse behind him.

Sam read one pager and put it down to see what the other wanted, though he was pretty sure that it was the same message. Just as he picked the other pager up it started vibrating again, causing him to fumble it in his hands for a moment before getting it under control, "It's from the daycare."

"And?" Alex snapped at the nurse when he didn't elaborate on the page. Normally Alex was very nice to the nurses, a skill he learned from Arizona as it was the only way to get them to do what he wanted, but when it involved his daughter he didn't have time to be nice.

Sam locked eyes with Alex when he heard the tone in his voice. "Uh..." Sam stuttered as he tried to read the message quickly. "Your daughter has a fever. They need someone to come pick her up."

Alex shifted his eyes from glaring at the nurse to Arizona back across the table. "She was fine when I dropped her off this morning," he explained, thinking that Arizona was about to blame him for sending their daughter to daycare sick.

"I know. She was fine when I stopped by earlier too. Kids get sick. Especially kids in daycare." Arizona sighed and put down her instruments. Her heart broke thinking that her baby girl was hurting. She was six months old and so far hadn't gotten more than the sniffles. "You can finish up here. I'll go get her and see what's up."

Alex nodded, "Let me know what's going on."

Arizona was pulling off her mask and making her way toward the scrub room door, "Of course."

**...**

Thirty minutes later, just as he was getting ready to close up, Alex heard a familiar cry ring out through the OR. It was the same cry that made his heart break. It was a cry that only started when Abby started teething a few weeks earlier. It was the cry of his little girl in pain.

Alex glanced up and saw Arizona standing at the window in the gallery.

"Her temp is 101.1 and she's really congested. Kelly said that she couldn't keep down her last bottle at 11. I'm going to grab some pedialyte from upstairs and take her home. I didn't have anything scheduled after this anyway," Arizona said as she tried to soothe the baby in her arms.

"You don't think it's anything serious? Should we do any tests? Chest x-rays?" Alex started to ramble a list of things that they could test for. One of the dangers of being a pediatric surgeon and a parent was knowing exactly what could go wrong and it led to Alex being a very overprotective father.

"Shhh," Arizona whispered at the baby who only continued to get louder with her cries. "Alex, it's probably just a cold or norovirus. If she's not better in a few days I'll let you run all the tests you want."

Alex grumbled but knew that Arizona was right. It probably wasn't anything serious but it was his little girl and the first time that she was sick.

"Can you handle everything here the rest of the day?"

"Sure," Alex replied. "I'll stop by after work."

Arizona hiked Abby up higher on her hip and pointed down to Alex, "Say bye-bye to Daddy."

Abby let out a loud wail and turned her head into Arizona's chest. The baby was miserable.

Alex frowned. He wanted to go home with them but knew that he needed to stay. "Bye, Love Bug. Feel better, baby."

Arizona gave Alex a wave, "I'll call you if she gets worse."

Alex begrudgingly watched them leave and turned back to focus on finishing the surgery.

**...**

Nothing in her life had prepared Arizona for taking care her sick daughter. Arizona had spent the last ten years of her life taking care of sick children but none of that was the same as taking care of her own sick child. It broke her heart to see her daughter so miserable yet be able to do nothing to make her feel better.

Once they got home, the first thing Arizona tried to do was to get Abby to take a bottle. Abby happily took the bottle and even drank four ounces of formula but the formula didn't settle and soon ended up all over Arizona. Arizona sighed in defeat as she stripped off her top and changed before filling another bottle with pedialyte. It was important for Abby to stay hydrated and if she had to keep forcing liquids into her, only to have them thrown back up on her then she would do it because keeping a tiny bit down was better than nothing.

"Okay, Abbs. I know you don't feel good but you're not going to feel any better unless you keep some of this down." Abby told her daughter as she sat in the rocker in the nursery and held the bottle up to her mouth. "This is the good stuff. It tastes yummy. You like strawberries so you'll love this. And it will help your body feel better. So let's make a deal. You try very hard not to spit this back up on me and I will let you sleep with me tonight?"

Arizona glanced down at the bright red and tear stained face of her daughter, looking to see if she would give any indication of accepting the deal. When Abby reached out and nudged the bottle in her hand, Arizona took that as a yes.

Arizona did learn to go slower with the pedialyte. She only let Abby drink one ounce at a time before daring to give her more. Getting Abby to keep even three ounces down was a victory for Arizona.

"Good job, Bug," Arizona congratulated her daughter after none of the pedialyte came back up. "Now how about one more ounce? Think you can do that?" Arizona asked as she kissed Abby's wet cheek.

Arizona was satisfied that Abby wasn't going to dehydrate anytime soon after she finished another ounce. It was time for the next step in soothing her pitiful, sad and sick little girl. She knew that the Tylenol would be the only real thing that would help give her baby even a little relief.

Arizona spent the rest of the afternoon doing everything she could to get her baby to feel better. The Tylenol helped Abby to relax enough so that she wasn't fighting Arizona as she tried to clean the mucous out of the baby's nose. Being able to breathe better allowed Abby to finally fall into a fitful slumber and allow her body to fight off the virus without Abby fighting it.

Abby slept off and on the rest of the day. She still wasn't keeping liquids down all the time but she kept enough down to keep her mother happy. Abby wasn't getting any better but at least she wasn't getting any worse.

**...**

Alex spent the rest of the day trying not to call Arizona. He knew that she had her hands full with their sick baby and didn't want to create more work for her or wake up Abby if she was sleeping. But he really wanted to know how she was doing. Instead of annoying Arizona by calling, he annoyed his residents by hovering over their shoulders as he tried to keep busy. He kept one eye on his watch the rest of his shift. As soon as it hit six o'clock he was in the locker room changing to go home - much to the relief of the residents that he spent the day terrorizing.

After a quick stop at the medicine locker on the peds floor (to grab some extra pedialyte and meds - just in case) he was on his way home. Normally on days that Arizona was already home with Abby, Alex would at least go to his own condo first before going to see his daughter but that day Alex couldn't wait to see her with his own eyes to make sure that she was okay.

Alex quietly opened the door to Arizona's and was surprised when he didn't hear any crying or screaming. He tiptoed through the apartment, knowing full well that Arizona would kill him if he woke Abby up. He had made that mistake once when Abby was a week old and he would never do that again.

"Hey," Alex whispered as he pushed the door to the nursery open and saw Abby sleeping in Arizona's arms. "How is she?"

"Exhausted," Arizona answered as she traced her finger along Abby's chubby cheeks. "She's refusing to just relax and let her body do the work. She's been sleeping for about twenty minutes at a time before going back to screaming her head off, coughing and sniffling."

"Poor baby," Alex frowned. He wanted to take over from Arizona but he knew that if Abby had only been sleeping for such short periods at a time there was no way Arizona was going to risk waking her up.

"You should probably go. I'm pretty sure it's a norovirus. I'm already exposed. There's no reason for you to get sick too."

Alex raised his voice, "She's my daughter too, Arizona." His daughter was sick and he wanted to help, not caring if he got sick or not.

"Alex!" Arizona gasped as she looked at him and then back at their daughter. Arizona gently stood up and was able to put Abby in her crib without waking her. Arizona pointed at the door and Alex hung his head as she followed him out.

"I want to take care of her when she's sick too, Arizona," Alex said as soon as they were far enough away from the nursery.

Arizona sighed and sank against the couch. She was exhausted and did not feel like dealing with a jealous Alex. "Do you think this is fun? I've been dealing with explosive spit up and poop all day. I'm pretty sure I've also lost some of my hearing thanks to _your_ daughter reaching decibels I've never heard before. I would love to have some help here but she's contagious and I need you to not get sick. We both can't be down and out with this. But next time we get a page from the daycare - you are totally taking it, okay? Then you can deal with the tiny terror and I'll stay and work."

Alex crossed his arms. He knew that Arizona was right but that didn't mean that he liked it. "Fine."

"Plus, you have your Valentine's date tomorrow and you really won't get laid if you're puking on her."

Alex rolled his eyes. Taking care of his sick daughter was way more important than a date but he knew better than to argue with Arizona. She was stubborn and always got her way. "Fine," he repeated.

A loud shrill tore through the condo and Arizona jumped up from the couch. "Go before she sees you. If she sees you, she's going to be even more upset when you leave."

Alex walked dejectedly toward the door, "Call me later?"

Arizona nodded, "I'll call you when I try to put her down again. You can read to her over the phone. Maybe that will help."

Alex paused at the front door, "If you need anything -"

"I will call you, Alex."

Arizona watched as Alex left and closed the door. She took a deep breath and made her way back to the nursery. She found Abby flailing in her crib. "Oh, it's going to be a long night, isn't it baby?" Arizona whispered as she picked Abby up and ran her hand up and down the baby's back.

**...**

Arizona had been right. It was a long night. A very long night. Between her cough, congestion and upset stomach, Abby barely slept. Arizona spent the night fighting to get liquids into her daughter. At one point, Arizona seriously debated taking Abby into the hospital just to get an IV put into her to hydrate her; but thanks to a middle of the night phone call to her mother for advice, Arizona decided to keep her at home. If she was still not keeping much down in the morning, then she'd take her in. Luckily for everyone, Abby's fever broke in the early morning, allowing both mother and daughter some peace.

After a few hours of rest, Abby was a looking much better than the day before. She was still congested and sneezing but without the fever; Arizona knew that she was on the road to recovery.

"Time to go back to the formula, baby girl," Arizona said as she shook the bottle while Abby watched intently. "I know it doesn't taste as good as the pedialyte but you don't need that anymore. Maybe later we can have some bananas if you keep this down, okay?"

Abby just looked at her mother like she was crazy as she greedily reached out for the bottle. Watching Abby suck the bottle down at a rapid rate made Arizona smile. "You _are_ feeling better, aren't you?"

Unfortunately for Arizona, while Abby was feeling better, she was not. She had started to sneeze and was sweating even though she kept the a/c at seventy degrees. Arizona checked her glands and sure enough they were a little swollen. "The things I do for you, kid," Arizona told Abby who was finishing her bottle. "How about a dose of Tylenol for both of us and maybe we can get some more sleep? If that's a yes, give me a burp."

Abby burped.

"Good girl," Arizona smiled as she wiped Abby's mouth off before setting off to find both of them the medicines they would need to help them feel better.

**...**

For his part, Alex spent the day distracted at work. Arizona had called him that morning to let him know that Abby's fever had broken. She even sent him a picture of Abby guzzling her bottle so Alex knew that she must be feeling at least a little bit better since Arizona had told him how little she was keeping down the day before. The day seemed to drag on at work and like the day before his residents were getting the brunt of his wrath. Alex wasn't happy to be at work and everyone around him knew it. After making a resident cry, a fellow attending stepped in and offered to cover the rest of his shift. It was a slow day and Alex wouldn't be missed for the last hour of his shift. Before heading home, Alex again went into the supply closet to steal a few items to take home.

Just like the day before, Alex tip toed into Arizona's condo, afraid to wake anyone up. Alex didn't have to look far to find his family - Arizona was passed out on the couch with Abby sleeping on her chest. Alex didn't want to wake them while they were sleeping but did want to check up on them. Alex put a cool hand against Abby's cheek and was happy that she wasn't as warm as she was the day before. The same couldn't be said for Arizona. She looked flushed and she was snoring slightly. Arizona didn't snore normally so he knew she was congested. Arizona flinched as he removed his hand and Alex retreated from the living room. He didn't want to get in trouble for waking them up when they were finally getting some rest. Instead, Alex left to run some errands as he formulated a plan to help them feel better.

Alex returned an hour later and was hoping that the girls were still asleep. He was relieved when he opened the door and didn't hear any noises. He'd have time to put his plan into motion.

Once he got everything unloaded and dinner cooking in the kitchen, Alex went back to the living room to check on the sickly ones. He could tell that Abby had started getting restless and wanted to get her before she woke up her mother. Alex held his breath as he picked Abby up. He hoped that the movement wouldn't wake Arizona up and wouldn't cause Abby to cry.

"I missed you, Ladybug," Alex whispered into Abby's hair as he held her close. She was probably still contagious but he didn't care and Arizona wasn't awake to scold him. "Did Mama take good care of you? You look better but I think you got your Mama sick."

Abby was slow to wake up but once she realized that she was in her father's arms she started squealing in delight which quickly turned into a wheezing thanks to her congestion. "Shh, Abbs, we need to let Mama sleep. How about we go take a bath? It'll help you breathe better and honestly you kinda stink."

**...**

Arizona rolled over on the couch in her sleep and quickly woke up. She realized that the familiar weight of her daughter wasn't on her chest anymore. She quickly opened her eyes and started feeling for her baby. When she realized she hadn't rolled over on her daughter she breathed a sigh of relief only to freak out a second later when her sleepy mind put together the fact that her daughter was missing. All of her senses suddenly woke up as thoughts about her daughter being kidnapped ran through her mind. When she smelled food cooking in the kitchen she relaxed a little. If someone had kidnapped her daughter they certainly wouldn't have made dinner. She started to realize that Alex must have come home. A quick check of her watch showed her that it was well into the evening and Alex surely was off of work and had probably come to check in.

Arizona found a vase of daisies on the counter and a pot of simmering soup on the stove but she didn't find Alex or her daughter. Arizona could hear laughter coming from somewhere and followed the noises to the guest bathroom. When she pushed open the door she found Abby wrapped up in a green frog towel in her father's arms.

"You're going to get sick," Arizona announced her presence from the doorway while trying not to smile at the pair. Abby was obviously feeling better as Alex looked like he had gotten a bath too from Abby's splashing in the tub.

Alex glanced up and smiled. He put Abby in her arms before shuffling past her in the doorway. When he returned a few seconds later he had a surgical mask on his face as he plucked Abby back from Arizona.

"I came prepared," Alex said through the mask as he kissed the top of Abby's head. Abby wiggled in his arms as she looked up at him with wide eyes that started filling with tears.

Arizona chuckled and shook her head as she reached forward and ripped the mask off of his face. "I'm pretty sure you already got her germs during bath time. No point scaring our daughter by wearing a mask. She doesn't recognize you with that on and I really can't listen to her cry anymore."

"Fine," Alex acknowledged as he too saw the impending meltdown on his daughter's face. "It's just me, Bug. No reason to be scared," Alex tickled Abby's belly in an attempt to turn her tears into laughs. "That's my girl," he said when he got a smile out of her. "Let's go get you dressed and then we'll eat some dinner."

"I'm not hungry," Arizona replied as she followed them out of the bathroom. "I haven't kept anything down all day."

Alex looked over his shoulder as he stood in the doorway of the nursery, "Which is why you need to eat. I will force it down if I have to."

Arizona rolled her eyes at him as he disappeared into the nursery. She really wasn't hungry. After throwing up everything, including water, that she tried to eat all day, the thought of eating again just made her even more queasy.

A few minutes later Alex returned with Abby in a bright pink onesie that Arizona didn't recognize. Alex had really taken to having a daughter and was more likely than Arizona to buy her pink clothes and girly toys.

"What did you buy her now?" Arizona questioned as she held her hands out for her baby girl.

Once she got Abby in her arms, Arizona could see that the it was a Valentine's Day themed onesie with a heart on the front with the word cutie written on it, just like the famous candies.

"It's her first Valentine's Day. She needed to represent. Even if the only people that will see her will be her parents," Alex explained as he walked to the stove to check on the soup he had been making.

Arizona had completely forgotten it was Valentine's Day until she saw Abby's outfit. She was suddenly reminded that Alex actually had plans for that night. "Shouldn't you be out with the hairstylist?"

Alex dipped a spoon into the soup and lifted it to his lips, "I cancelled."

"Alex," Arizona sighed and then covered one of Abby's ears with her hand. "You're not going to get laid if you cancel on Valentine's Day. We're fine here."

"I can see that," Alex said as he gave Arizona a once over before turning back around to ladle soup into bowls . "I'm pretty sure you haven't changed clothes since the last time Abby threw up on you. I'm also pretty sure that you have some puke in your hair. You've got a fever and you're dehydrated, Arizona. You're sick. Abby's still sick." Alex pushed a bowl at Arizona who had just finished getting Abby into her high chair. "Plus, I'd rather spend Valentine's Day with my two favorite girls, even if you both are sick, rather than some chick that I barely know. Now eat some damn soup."

"Hmph," Arizona huffed as she dramatically lifted a spoonful of soup up to her lips. "If I puke this back up..."

"I'll hold your hair back," Alex finished her sentence for her. "Now eat. I'll take care of feeding the baby. I steamed some sweet potatoes for her."

Alex watched as Arizona sipped down a few spoonfuls before he went back to the kitchen and filled a mesh feeder with sweet potatoes so that Abby could attempt to feed herself.

"This is really good," Arizona remarked once Alex was back at the table. "I didn't know you could cook. You always just bring takeout when it's your turn to provide dinner."

Alex smiled. He was happy that Arizona was enjoying her soup. Even if it might be coming back up later. "One of the only things my mom was good for was making chicken noodle soup when we were sick. I guess I just picked it up from watching her. And Amber was a sickly kid so I got a lot of practice making it."

Arizona slurped another spoonful, "You'll have to make this for Abbs every time she is sick."

Alex turned to Abby who was gumming the sweet potatoes with her lone tooth, "You want to try some, Bug?"

"I didn't mean now, Alex. But when she's older."

Alex shrugged and dipped his spoon into his soup. He carefully blew on it to cool it off before putting it in front of Abby's mouth. Abby gleefully opened her mouth. Alex and Arizona were both grateful that their daughter didn't appear to be a picky eater. In the few weeks that they'd been introducing solid foods, there was nothing that Abby wasn't happy to eat.

"It's just broth. She'll be fine. Nothing she can choke on. Right, baby?" Alex lifted the spoon up and let the broth slide into the infant's mouth. "You like that?"

Abby gurgled and smiled at her father. She liked it.

"She likes it," Alex commented as he took his spoon back and went to feed himself.

"Alex!" Arizona nearly yelled.

Alex looked up confused. He wasn't sure what he had done to cause the outburst. "What?" he asked after he swallowed his bite.

Arizona shook her head, "You just fed Abby with that spoon. A _sick_ Abby. Now you've really got her germs."

"Oh well. I was going to get it anyway."

Arizona didn't get a chance to admonish him any further as she felt her stomach start to reject the food she had just ingested and she dashed off to her bathroom. Alex was right on her heels as he pulled her hair back from her shoulders and rubbed her back.

"I'm going to go put Abby in the play pen. I'll be right back," Alex said soothingly before he left Arizona to continue throwing up.

When Alex returned Arizona was laying down next to the toilet.

"Any better?" he asked.

"No," Arizona hugged herself and curled into the fetal position.

"You going to puke again?"

"No."

"Come on then. I'm putting you to bed."

Alex knew she really must not have felt well when Arizona didn't fight him when he picked her up off the floor and put her into her bed. He poured a cup of pedialyte and put it on her nightstand.

"Really Alex? Pedialyte?" Arizona groaned as she pulled the covers tighter around her. She was freezing.

"You need the hydration. Pedialyte is awesome at that. It's my hangover remedy. Do you need anything else?"

Arizona patted the bed, "Company. I'm not tired thanks to my nap earlier. Bring Abby in here and we'll watch some TV."

Alex nodded and was back a few minutes later with Abby changed into her pajamas. He slipped under the covers on the other side of the bed with Abby in between them.

"Nothing on but rom-coms," Alex muttered as he flipped through the television. "Any preference?"

"What about this one?" Arizona asked as he stopped on one featuring Jennifer Lopez. "This one isn't bad."

"This is about the wedding planner chick right?" Alex asked.

Arizona was surprised that he knew the movie but nodded to him that he was right.

"No," he said as he continued flipping channels. "The actor that plays that Italian dude has the worst accent. I can't stand him. But I know you have a thing for Latinas so if you want I can go back to it?"

Alex waited for Arizona to answer him. When an answer didn't come, he looked over and saw that Arizona had fallen asleep.

"How about you, Abbs?" Alex whispered to his daughter that was starting to look tired herself. "You have a thing for Latinas like your Mama?"

Abby smiled at him, so Alex took that as a yes and changed the channel back to The Wedding Planner. He could deal with the annoying fake Italian guy because he had to admit that Jennifer Lopez was really hot. Alex only made it about a half hour into the movie before he joined his girls in dreamland.

**...**

When Alex woke up he immediately regretted it. He was feeling much better when he was asleep. But now in the world of consciousness, all Alex could feel was the inability to breathe through his nose and the headache pounding behind his eyes.

"Hey," Arizona greeted him as she put a tray of hot tea and toast on the table. "I'm betting you feel pretty crappy right now. Thought this could help."

Alex took a bite out of the toast. He grimaced as he swallowed it.

"I figured bland food would be best," Arizona took a bite of her own piece. "But on the upside. It looks like the virus runs its course after about twenty-four hours. Abby felt great this morning and I'm starting to feel better."

Alex was listening to Arizona speak but couldn't focus on her words. Instead, he raced out of bed and headed for the toilet. In a turn of events from the night before, Arizona rubbed his back as he emptied his stomach.

"Teddy's watching Abby for the day. And possibly the night if you're not feeling better. We don't want the cycle of illness to repeat itself," Arizona informed Alex as he relaxed against the bathroom wall. Arizona tugged on his arm, "Come on. Back to bed with you."

"I can go up to my place and crash. It's fine," Alex said as Arizona wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Arizona gently guided Alex into her bed, "You took care of me last night. It's my turn. Plus, we don't need you to spread the germs up there."

When Arizona returned with a glass of pedialyte for Alex, he was already almost back asleep. Arizona felt his forehead with the back of her hand, he was burning up.

"You've got a fever," Arizona murmured as she tucked the covers tighter around his body. Alex mumbled a response but it Arizona couldn't figure out what he said. Arizona leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead, "Sleep well, Alex."

**...**


End file.
